Challenge B

Week 5

Challenge B

Week 5

Wow! We are one third through this semester! It's hard to believe we are starting our sixth week! Our day sped by again and everyone significantly added to our conversations.

Know that I am praying for your family this week. As always, please contact me with any questions or concerns.

RHETORIC : Logic

We began with a game of Tic-Tac-Toe for reviewing terms. Again, we did a quick review worksheet from the set that came with our logic books, and I sent the answer key home for you.

Then, we tackled Lessons 15-18 for this week. We are seeing the square of opposition come together completely this week. Please have them practice drawing and labeling it every day to help them memorize it. It WILL BE on the worksheet next week! They will have to draw and label it from memory. See page 112 for an example that clearly shows the relationships.

LOGIC : Pre-Algebra

Today we reviewed the following:

Common factors, GCF, expanding and reducing fractions, fractions to decimals, rounding repeaters, decimals to fractions and exponents. Each student went to the board and worked a given problem for the class after I had gone over the given topic.

Then we combined with the Challenge A class and played a fun game of N2K (National Number Knockout). Here is a link with more information on what N2K is and how CC uses it to promote literacy and proficiency. http://nationalnumberknockout.com/ It is much like the math game 'board slam' played in Essentials. I'm not sure which we will end up calling it for our class. We hope to continue to combine with Challenge A for some games.

GRAMMAR: Latin

We started with a fun game of Pictionary to review vocabulary. Each student went to the board and drew a picture of a vocabulary word and the others had to give the Latin word. Again, they completed a review worksheet and I sent the answer key for you to check their work. We previewed the exercises and chanted each set of new vocabulary for this week's lessons. Lessons 5 covers 5th declension, which like 4th declension, has no exceptions. Lesson 6 is on nouns with special meanings in the plural. This week may seem like we are packing in two lessons and rushing with material, however the two lessons together cover 8 pages and only add a few new vocabulary words. Exercises 81 and 83 are very long. They are reviews of Unit One. It is up to you how much you require your student to complete.

Beginning next week, we will spend 3 weeks on the two lessons on adjectives. Adjectives layer on to our knowledge of nouns and is a place in the semester that we can solidify use of nouns and how to modify them with adjectives before we head into VERBS (which is a whole new animal!). Keep in mind that as we dig into adjectives, we inherently review noun usage and continue to work on memory recall of that information.

RESEARCH: History of Science

The students did great with their notecards on Newton. We talked about sorting by topic before presenting and then each clearly shared their information with the class. This exercise with note cards will help them with research papers in the future.

For next week, we study Carl Linnaeus' classification system. Students are to choose one plant and one animal and complete a classification chart for each. Refer to the information on Linnaeus in the guide on page 178. Here are a few links to various Challenge B student examples for this assignment. It can be as in-depth as you or your student would like. Students may know terms used, but they may need to look up a definition of a few of the specific classification terms in order to tell why their choice is classified as such.

EXPOSITION & COMPOSITION: Lost Tools of Writing

We discussed Exordium and Amplification today. Exordium is a classical word meaning the introductory sentence or opening statement, while amplification is a classical word meaning the closing sentence or clincher statement. See TG pages 99 and 125, and SW pages 37-42.

This week they are sorting their ANI charts and using Essay 4 outline template on SW page 42 to complete the outline.

DEBATE: Current Events

I hope the students are enjoying the CE discussions as much as I am! We listed Pros and Cons about federal healthcare articles they presented. It was interesting to talk about specific drugs,(i.e., Epipen), prescription drugs in general, and Obamacare.

For next week, the topic is on whether tablets should replace textbooks in the public classroom. Students are to find at least TWO articles - one affirmative and one negative on this issue. They are to form an amplification (LTW, TG p125) and bring it to class next week to use at the end of their presentation. Again, they need to have a notecard summarizing each article.